The use of a keyboard to control a computer, laptop, or other similar electronic device and a mouse as an input device for cursor navigation on a screen are well-known in the art. A typical computer system uses a keyboard for text input and a separate input device, such as a mouse to provide an input mechanism to control a cursor on the computer's screen. In addition to taking up valuable desk space by having two separate devices, e.g., mouse and keyboard, it is inconvenient and time consuming to move one's hand to and from the keyboard and the mouse unit when shifting back and forth between typing and cursor controls.
A combination keyboard and cursor control input device has been introduced. Generally, a combined keyboard with mouse functionality device has additional navigation input keys or mouse components arranged on the existing keyboard to emulate the mouse input mechanisms. Other existing keyboards with integrated mouse type input functionality may have a design which deviates from the traditional “QWERTY” keyboard arrangement. Hence, using such a device would require the user to learn a new typing method instead of the conventional method in which both hands are placed on the home positions, known as the traditional blind touch method.
More recently, manufacturers have combined a wide variety of input devices with the conventional keyboard, in order to provide addition input functions to the keyboard, including: track balls, scrollers, track pads, joy sticks, optical puck, and so on. While the combination of the two systems may be convenient, such devices may not provide a satisfactory cursor navigating function as expected from a conventional mouse. Rather, it may lack the user-friendly operation of the blind “QWERTY” touch typing method. Specifically, for most of these combination keyboards, the user must move their hands from the “QWERTY” resting position, in order to utilize the additional input device, which is inconvenient and slows down the typing process. Additionally, the combination of a touch pad onto a keyboard is more likely prone to accidental touch of the thumb or palm on the sensitive touch pad due to the layout of the keyboard and the touch pad. Thus, resulting in unintentional click or cursor movement during the text input process, which may result in various typing and input errors. In addition, typical touch devices generally only offer low pointing resolution capability. Therefore, it may not be suitable for gaming purposes, which normally requires a high performance input functionality.
In another conventional keyboard having an integrated mouse functionality, the keyboard may deploy a conventional optical navigation system having a puck or a sliding pad for providing the cursor navigation functions. However, due to the large size of such a module, the complexity in its structure and lack of product robustness, such a system would not provide a particularly smaller system than a separate mouse device, may not be reliable, and may be more susceptible to mechanical failure or compromises to its navigation performance.